For players who use their bare hands as their weapons, there is a long list of special attacks available to supplement their damage. Although these are primarily used by the Martial artist profession, martial arts special attacks are (mostly) not limited to the Martial Artist profession, and can be used by anyone who uses their bare fists for weapons. Weapons that give an extra MA attack can be used in conjunction with MA special attacks (parry sticks, for instance).

MA Special attacks turn up as mission rewards, but the item description never tells you what they do. This guide provides a listing of all the MA special attacks, where to get them, what they do, and potentially what each one is good for.

Unless otherwise specified, all effects on self or fighting target (such as damage, nano point cost, chance to stun, skill lock time) will vary by the QL of the special attack. Damage inflicted on your fighting target by special attacks are modified by damage buffing equipment or buffs.

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Start-Up

Martial artists that start at ICC shuttleport receive the following special attack.

* Locks Martial Arts skill (10s)
* Given to all Martial Artists
* Can be traded
* Just an example of special attacks given to new Martial Artists. Give it to a friend so they can see what MA special attacks do.

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Rollable

The following MA special attacks can be obtained as rewards from RK missions. Occasionally they can be found inside treasure chests or on corpses of martial artist type mobs; however, MA special attacks are never the "item to be found" in RK missions. The frequency that MA special attacks appear as a mission reward is below average, but not insanely difficult to roll.

* Locks Martial Arts skill
* Very low damage
* This attack is probably most suited to low level MA's who don't yet have the spare IP to raise special attack skills. Damage is low and the nano point cost is relatively high, however; the skill lock is quite short.

On Fighting Target:
* Inflicts a fixed amount of damage
* Chance of stun for 2.5s

* Locks Martial Arts skill
* Requires Dimach
* Average damage
* Since this attack does not cost nano points, this is a good choice for doing some extra damage with a chance of a short stun when nano points are more crucial for other purposes, such as healing. This attack should not be ignored for that reason.

On Fighting Target:
* Inflicts a fixed amount of damage
* Inflicts a damage over time

* Locks Martial Arts skill
* Requires Parry and Brawl
* Average damage
* This is a popular attack for MA's that can afford spending IP on the Parry skill or who use parry sticks. The skill lock time is not prohibitively long and the damage plus damage over time is nice.

* Locks Martial Arts skill (180s)
* Requires Dimach
* Very low damage
* This special attack is used primarily to stun and init debuff the enemy. The skill lock time is on somewhat longer than average, which is the trade off to using this attack.

On Fighting Target:
* Debuffs run speed for 10s
* Debuffs add all def for 10s

* Locks Martial Arts skill (300s)
* Requires Parry
* Useful self-only heal
* This attack should not be used as a regular heal. It's best used as an emergency heal due to its long skill lock time. Also useful by professions that do not have heals but who use martial arts (such as engineers or enforcers).

On Self:
* Reduces the duration of Roots and Snares
* Buffs run speed and nano resist for 20s

On Fighting Target:
* Inflicts 1 point of damage
* Debuffs run speed for 3s
* Chance to stun for 4s

* Locks Riposte skill
* Requires Riposte
* Requires Martial Artist profession
* Can be traded
* User does not have to be in combat
* This is a popular special attack that every Martial Artist should have in their arsenal. In addition to using this attack to break roots, this attack can be used regularly when fighting nano casting targets to buff the MA's nano resist because it locks out the riposte skill rather than the MA skill.

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Temple of the Three Winds

The following MA Special attacks can be obtained by collecting the appropriate books from mobs in Temple of the Three Winds. Although these attacks come in only one QL, they are still useful over the entire lifetime of a Martial Artist.

* Locks Martial Arts (19s)
* Requires Martial Artist profession
* This MA-only special attack is often snubbed and overlooked due to it's low damage, but it has low requirements, a 50% chance to stun the enemy and a short skill lock time.

* Locks Dimach skill (39s)
* Requires Dimach
* Requires Martial Artist profession
* With the exception that the Martial Artist has already used their Dimach special attack and is now suffering the 30 minute skill lock, Martial Artists of all levels should get and use this special attack because it locks dimach skill instead of martial arts and heals your entire team for 190 points.

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Inner Sanctum

The following MA Special attacks can be obtained by collecting the appropriate books from mobs in the Inner Sanctum.

On Fighting Target:
* Inflicts 2,500 points of damage
* Inflicts a damage over time for 30s
* Inflicts a nano drain over time for 30s
* Debuffs inits and run speed for 15s

* Locks Dimach skill (120s)
* Requires Dimach
* Requires Martial Artist profession
* Requires MA Professional Cyberdeck
* Requires the MA have 1,501 nano points even though it doesn't cost any nano points to use
* Reward for the Dust Brigade: Locating the Threat quest
* Fairly good damage and crippling init debuff. Useful in place of actually using the dimach special attack because the skill lock is only 2 minutes rather than 30 minutes.

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Purchase from Tower Shop

The following special attacks can be purchased using Victory Points from the Tower Shop in Old Athen, Borealis, or Rome and are intended primarily for PvP.

* Locks Strength skill (240s)
* Requires Parry
* Requires Martial Artist profession
* Use this in place of the buff given by Might of the Revenant because both lock the strength skill, and this one has a shorter lock time. Increasing offense increases chance of landing crits which in turn increases damage output.

On Fighting Target:
* Drains 2,000 nano points
* Inflicts a nano point drain over time for 60s

* Locks Intelligence skill (60s)
* Requires Brawl
* Target must be another player
* Intended to cripple your opponent's nano skills by wiping out the bulk of their nano points. Particularly effective against enemies with limited nano points, such as Atrox Enforcers.

* Locks Martial Arts skill (180s)
* Requires Dimach
* Target must be another player
* A fairly standard special attack. It does good damage and checks against your opponent's duck explosives skill, as all the Tower Shop attacks do.